Food Fight

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that it is taking me longer and longer to shop for food for my family, whether I’m doing it online via a delivery service or at several local stores. I’ve also noticed that I’ve had to head to several different places to buy certain organic foods, and have also been spending an increased amount of money on what I think of as “safe” foods for my family. Why? The answer is fairly simple, even if the process of buying foods is not: I am trying stick to a budget while purchasing food that is not genetically engineered and is also pesticide free.

And it’s really hard.

There was a time that us moms worked tirelessly to get our kids to learn to love fruits and vegetables, or at least eat them without throwing a tantrum. Some of us are still in the midst of that battle. But now, when I look on my kids’ plates, I wonder if these super-foods are actually super-dangerous to my family. Worse, I worry that some of the foods my kids readily eat (like cereal) could contain ingredients that have been genetically engineered and/or sprayed with questionable pesticides. So, despite my efforts, I’m fairly sure that some pesticide-laden, genetically engineered food is making it into my kids’ tummies. And it makes me really angry.

I’ve spoken to friends and read articles posted by other moms about how to avoid these dangerous foods, like the “Dirty Dozen” (check out www.organic.org and www.nongmoshoppingguide.com). I’ve educated myself on why genetically modified organisms (called GMOs for short) are considered dangerous by some medical experts but fairly safe by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (for more on this and the GMO labeling legal issues, take a look at attorney Ramona Bashshur’s article FDA and Regulations of GMOs).

Over time, I’ve learned that GMOs could raise toxicity in crops, create the need for harsher pesticides, and could potentially result in pre-cancerous cell growth, damaged immune systems, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and other diseases. And I think we can all agree that if a farmer needs to wear a hazmat suit to spray crops with “safe” pesticides, those fruits and veggies are probably not fit for human consumption, no matter what any government tells us (read this article).

So many of us moms work so hard to feed our family healthy foods. We limit sugar and bad fats, we try to eliminate fast food and empty calories from soda and other sugary drinks, and we work tirelessly with school boards to make sure the cafeteria food is somewhat healthier than it has been (check out Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution to read how our fellow parents are changing school food for the better).

But we are facing a new food frontier here. We are the ones shopping in the supermarkets, in the organic markets, and in the big box stores. We are the ones reading labels, trying to figure out organic bar codes, and diligently trying to buy safe food on a limited budget.

Is it really fair that some food is not required to be labeled GMO? And for the food that is labeled, is it really fair that we must decide between GMO and non-GMO corn for a summer BBQ because the genetically engineered corn is so much cheaper? Do we want to watch our children (finally) eat their vegetables or breakfast cereal, only to wonder whether the non-labeled food is GMO and covered in pesticides, and if it is, whether that food will one day cause nutritional problems, cancer, or food allergies?

We moms have mobilized over the years for so many worthy causes, from preventing drunk driving to supporting our right to breastfeed in public. I think insisting on readily available, budget-friendly, safe food may be our next fight.

And I’m not alone in this thought: there are groups popping up all over the country demanding that companies label food containing GMOs, and better yet, stop using GMOs in their food completely. Moms Across America and Moms Against GMOS are just two of the groups working toward multiple goals to keep our food supply safe and healthy.

We’ve already made some strides, like when General Mills announced that it would soon offer GMO-free Cheerios. While critics claim this is just a marketing stunt because any cereal made with corn cannot be GMO-free (unfortunately, about 80% of corn made in the U.S. is genetically modified), the reality is that awareness has been raised, and companies are beginning to acknowledge parents’ concerns.

And although many in the scientific community continue to posit that GMOs are safe, until more GMO research is completed, and less pesticides are used, we moms must remain vigilant in the fight to keep our children safe from potentially compromised food while still – somehow – keeping within our monthly food budgets.

It’s not an easy task, and sometimes I wonder if I’m making too much of nothing. Sometimes, when I’m standing in the produce section, I really want to buy the cheaper, non-organic sweet potatoes. I mean, how bad can they be? And then I am treated to a video like this one, where a young student shows us how non-organic, pesticide laden sweet potatoes will not sprout leaves, as compared to their organic counterparts that sprout beautifully and naturally within days. It’s overwhelming.

As time goes on and more research is conducted, we will continue to make decisions and process more information about the real and potential dangers of our food.

Until then, we moms have no choice but to remain watchful, and work to obtain information and make changes that help avoid choosing between our budgets and our health.

All food should be safe for us and for our children to eat, without question. The food fight is on.

* This article originally appeared on The Mommy Vortex.